This type of therapy can help you challenge and reframe unhelpful beliefs and behaviors and replace them with more productive ones. In addition, over half of the survey respondents said benzodiazepines’ side effects or withdrawal symptoms caused them to consider suicide. If you take away the blockades gradually, your brain can reduce its chemical traffic to match. But if you remove the drug all at severe benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome once, your brain doesn’t have enough time to prepare, and you can develop life-threatening symptoms like seizures. Read on to learn more about benzodiazepine withdrawal, including the signs, how long it lasts, and how to get support with tapering off safely. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms appear within 6-24 hours after stopping alcohol, are most severe after 36 – 72 hours and last for 2 – 10 days.
- They also lead to disinhibition, impairing the user’s ability to appropriately assess the risky actions or behaviors.
- Looking at this question in a different way, a recent general population study comparing people who reported only using benzodiazepine as prescribed to people who reported misuse did not find an effect of racial/ethnic identity (Maust et al., 2018).
- Interestingly, a lower prevalence of withdrawal symptoms was noted in the experimental group without any change in pharmacologic treatment from control group [73].
- Although prevalence estimates for misuse of specific benzodiazepine formulations appear to coincide with prescribing rates, certain benzodiazepines are more preferred than others, potentially reflecting higher abuse liability.
- Other important indications for the use of BZDs include the treatment of catatonia, seizure disorders, and alcohol and BZD withdrawal.
- More studies will need to be carried out on the non-pharmacologic treatment of BZD withdrawal, as it is showing some promise for the successful discontinuation of the drugs.
Tips for Preventing Benzo Addiction
- Benzodiazepine addiction is not necessarily as apparent as other drug abuse.
- Yet, overdose deaths and emergency room visits involving benzodiazepines have increased (Cai et al., 2010; Day, 2013; Jones and McAninch, 2015).
- Some people also use them to try to ease the comedown from cocaine or other stimulants.
- For example, a common dose of alprazolam (Xanax) is 0.5 to 1.5 milligrams.
- The primary difference between these drugs is the length of time they stay active in the body.
Secondly, approximately 20% of the children in the intensive care unit given BZD during sedation, more specifically midazolam, have been shown to exhibit withdrawal effects. The severity of the withdrawal sequelae depends on the total dose and duration of infusion and usually presents as agitation, tremors, difficulty sleeping, and inconsolable crying [60]. BZDs gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s through household names such as The Rolling Stones and numerous Hollywood movies sensationalizing Valium (diazepam). BZDs were encouraged for anyone wanting to calm their nerves and ease their sleep, causing them to rapidly attain favor in society [6].
What makes benzodiazepine withdrawal so dangerous?
Benzos are generally safe to use when prescribed by a doctor and taken for a limited time, but they are potentially addictive and dangerous when used long-term. The results of the present review are qualified by several methodological limitations. First, our search strategy was limited to the search terms used, and therefore we might have missed relevant studies that did not include these key words.
Short-term symptoms
If you think you or someone you’re with is in danger of overdosing, call 911 right away. Keep in mind that emergency responders and doctors are there to help you. If you have the pill containers, give them to the EMTs or doctors to help them determine the number and type of pills taken. One type of benzodiazepine that’s legally manufactured in other countries but illegal in the U.S. is flunitrazepam (Rohypnol). Effort on this manuscript was supported by NIDA grant K23 DA and the Sarles Young Investigator Award (Dr. McHugh). These funding sources had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.
- The benzodiazepine-dependent population is heterogeneous and this influences management.
- According to the National Center for PTSD, the most beneficial kind of therapy for benzodiazepine withdrawal is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
- If you or a loved one is misusing benzodiazepines, treatment is available, and many formats and therapies are offered to suit your unique needs.
- Mclean et al. 2011 reported that the diagnosis of anxiety and stress disorders has a higher prevalence in women, which can explain the discrepancies in the prescription for men vs. women [30].
How Quickly Does Tolerance for Benzos Develop?
This is consistent with findings that regulating negative affective and somatic states is the most common motive for benzodiazepine misuse. Yet, it is unclear if psychiatric distress is an antecedent or consequence of benzodiazepine misuse (or both), and findings from the reviewed studies provide partial support for both explanations. It is likely that greater psychiatric distress motivates misuse to relieve symptoms, and symptoms of psychiatric distress are also a consequence of acute or protracted benzodiazepine withdrawal. Women are more likely to report misusing benzodiazepines to cope with negative affect, and associations between psychiatric distress and benzodiazepine misuse appear to be stronger in women than in men. Accordingly, women might particularly benefit from efforts to reduce benzodiazepine misuse and related harms that target negative affect.
Another study that tested a different standardized education protocol showed more promising results [73]. The experimental group in this study was counseled on the first visit for 15–20 min on the effects, dangers, and alternatives to chronic BZD use and dependence [73]. The subjects were interviewed with surgery-based consultations for approximately 10 min [12]. This study found that patients undergoing this structured intervention were 5-fold more likely to successfully discontinue BZD than those who just tapered off the drug [73]. Interestingly, a lower prevalence of withdrawal symptoms was noted in the experimental group without any change in pharmacologic treatment from control group [73].
High-risk patients or those with unstable medical conditions or a significant seizure history may benefit from admission to an inpatient service for stabilisation or withdrawal. Urine drug screening is complicated by the presence of benzodiazepine metabolites. Care should be taken in interpreting the results as some metabolites are themselves parent compounds. For example, temazepam and oxazepam are metabolites of diazepam, which may lead the practitioner to conclude that the patient had been taking other benzodiazepines during diazepam treatment.